Hey all... I'm looking at treadmills for my wife's birthday next month. I've never paid much attention to them cuz I prefer to run outside regardless of weather. But, having a treadmill in the house will give her more time at home with the new baby, since she already has to spend 1:30-2 hrs on the road everyday.

I'd like to spend around $1500 on the high end. The Nordictrack C1750 looks to be the best overall value at that cost right now... as far as the techie stuff you get with it, the quality of the track, durability, etc...

Before I go out and buy something, I wanted to see if anyone has a strong opinion one way or the other... maybe there's a treadmill expert out there... or maybe one of you know of a really good deal I can get somewhere...

I unfortunately don't have any advice as to the types of treadmills out there, but I have seen a lot of treadmills (barely used) on Craigslist. Hopefully with advice on different models from other people, and perhaps looking at Consumer Reports too, you might be able to find a great deal on a good machine on Craigslist!

My wife and I recently (6 mo ago) bought a treadmill. We opted for the Spirit XT385, and bought from Leisure Fitness. Been happy with it. Our list of wants was 1. basic features w/o the touchscreen TV stuff, 2. durability + warranty, 3. <$2k. The feedback we got on NordicTrack and Sole weren't great in terms of customer service, so we looked at the "better" lines with better reputations, especially a local dealer we can go see. And honestly, we didn't like the "feel" of either NT or Sole, which we tried out at Sears.

It came down to LifeSpan vs. Spirit for us. Both were solid, Spirit just felt better. There are several trims that are about $100 apart in the $1500-2000 price range, so you should find what you want. Yes, that's a tad higher than your upper end, but that's the price point. There are higher end lines (Landice, Precor), but I think those begin well above your $$.

Keep in mind, this thing will likely breakdown at some point. Lots of moving parts, pounding, moisture. Find out by who/how your unit will be serviced.

I would combine the second and third posts. Go for a higher quality unit (fewer problems), used from Craigslist. This is one of those items that you can often get used, but pretty close to new condition. Like a gym membership, people often have the best of intentions when purchasing, but don't follow through, hence large supply of used units at attractive prices.

I disagree -- we did a good bit of searching for the good units on craigslist, etc. and found low-end units that were lightly used but 5+ years old and used as drying racks. That's not to say good ones can't be had, but you may have a devil of a time finding one. If you do, lucky you!

We found that most folks buying the good treadmills are runners, and they don't part with them.